Reba McEntire was called up to play the role of Burgundy Jones a few months after the plane crash that killed seven of her band members and her road manager. Wanting to get the tragedy off of her mind and to do something different she accepted.

The movie would be the only NBC TV movie Reba McEntire worked on, and later worked on different TV movies that aired on CBS. This movie was also the only title in the 'Gambler' series to have premiered on NBC, instead of CBS.

The card game is played by the rules of Paladin, the cowboy from "Have Gun Will Travel", who has passed away. The card game is played in the hotel where Paladin lived.

This movie reunited many of the stars from 1950s and '60s TV westerns including Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman, Hugh O'Brain from Wyatt Earp, Clint Walker from Cheyenne, Jim Drury and Doug McClure from the Virginian and from the 1970's David Carradine from Kung Fu, most playing their old characters. Drury and McClure are the exception; the rights couldn't be secured, so they are never referred to by their Virginian character names.

Jack Kelly's final performance.